JANUARY 12: Wallace has cleared waivers and been outrighted, tweets Chris Cotillo of MLBDailyDish.com, who notes that Wallace will take part in big league camp.
JANUARY 6: The Astros have designated Brett Wallace for assignment to make roster space for newly signed pitcher Jerome Williams, the club announced via press release. Once the game's 27th overall prospect, Wallace never found sustained success in Houston.
Playing the corner infield (mostly first base) over four seasons with the Astros, Wallace never earned more than 379 plate appearances in a season and accumulated a .242/.313/.391 slash (including 29 home runs) in 1,077 plate appearances. Last year, he received 285 plate appearances and put up a .221/.284/.431 line, striking out over 100 times while drawing just 18 walks. (His 36.5% strikeout rate was the worst in the league amongst players with at least 150 plate appearances.)
On the other hand, Wallace is still just 27 years of age and has shown the ability to get on base in the upper minors, where his career Triple-A OBP has approached the .400 mark. And Wallace began to translate his power into production at the MLB level, hitting 22 long balls in his last 539 trips to bat over 2012-13. Wallace is out of options, notes Evan Drellich of the Houston Chronicle (via Twitter), which complicates his situation for clubs that might like to take a chance on his upside.
Had to have seen this coming. You would think someone would take a flyer on him
Who?
He got cut by the worst team in the league.
Yet another failed prospect. Maybe he just needs a change of scenery though
He’s already been in 4 organizations since 2008
5th times the charm?
That’s what I thought when he cam to the Astros that he might explode coming from the Cards…..nope!!!
From the Blue Jays, you mean?
No, spent most of his time in Card organization but was traded to Toronto. I am from Memphis, the AAA for Cards are here so seen him a lot. He was n Toronto but not long enough to know much about him
You mean he was traded from St. Louis to Oakland in the Matt Holiday trade.
Nope. He went from the Cardinals to the A’s to the Blue Jays to the Astros. And he spent just as much time between Oakland and Toronto’s farms as he did with St. Louis’ farm.
He spent less than a year in the Cardinals’ organization after being drafted in 2008, but was such a highly-touted prospect that he was the key player in the Holliday deal. By then, the Cardinals had Freese and considered him a better prospect.
Good guy for the Mets to invite to ST and compete with Davis, and Duda.
Another one position left-handed hitter that can’t hit, no thanks. Although I give him props for being an emergency shortstop and actually having to play the position two seasons ago.
I’m with Sports_Pope. Wallace actually makes more sense for the NYY to me, especially if he can dust off the 3B glove.
Does this mean Toronto wins the Gose/Wallace trade?
Td’A went to the Mets for a 37 year old knuckle baller so the Mets win
What
Thats an entirely different trade.
Well all of the good prospects from the Doc trade are not even with Toronto anymore but with the Mets, and the Mets gave us no return so far so the mets won the Halladay trade
What…
Gose wasn’t part of the Doc trade
Gose hasn’t done so much just yet but I think with defense and speed Gose has the better shot of giving more long term value
Gose is only 23 as well. His ceiling may only be a 4th outfielder but as you mentioned, his defense and speed will be valuable.
I think all three teams who’ve moved Wallace in a 1-1 challenge trade has lost at this point.
I think we could call Brett Wallace for Michael Taylor a wash though.
so glad the Cardinals traded him for Matt Holliday when Wallace still had value.
Poor guy he has been traded to a lot of teams he was supposed to be the next big time player. I think the mets would be a great spot for him.
Somewhere someone has a Brett Wallace, Josh VItters, and Matt LaPorta team in MLB:The Show 2008 and he’s crying himself to sleep.
Ian Stewart haha
Probably worth a flyer, but the guy is very flawed. No plate discipline, strikes out A LOT, poor defense, lackluster batting AVG….his power is the only thing going for him in the majors. However, entering his age 27 and prime seasons, who knows, maybe things will finally click for him.
Don’t mind this, aside from the fact that it means that it’s basically Guzman at 1B until Singleton is ready, and I have zero faith in Guzman as a hitter vs. RHP.
I’m guessing this means the Astros are going after Davis now. Because Guzman and Wallace as left right match ups equals a pretty decent 1st basemen. So it doesn’t make sense to cut him unless you have a plan in the form of Davis.
Of course it could mean they feel singleton might be able to make the team out of spring training. I don’t think he’s ready after an inconsistent 2012 but if Lunhow wants to cut Wallace sooner rather then later(it was going to happen at some point) I not going to complain.
Any chance the lefthand-hitting Brett Wallace could platoon with righthand-hitting Gaby Sanchez at first base for the Pittsburgh Pirates?
Probably not.
I was kind of thinking the same thing. Seems like the Mets and the Pirates are teams that have question marks at 1B.
And me as well. Wouldn’t be bad to throw him in the mix to form the other end of that platoon. He’s got some power but his numbers are still pretty ugly.
Last year, he had a .787 OPS against RHP and a .450 OPS against LHP. Garrett Jones split .730 against RHP and .317 against LHP last year. Could be worth a gamble for the Pirates.
It’s the first thing I thought of when I saw that Wallace was DFA’d. I am not saying I would be in favor of it, but this just screams Pirates. He could be had for not much, and he has at least as much upside and more versatility than either Chris McGuinness or Travis Ishikawa.
His lifetime .242/.313/.391 looks a lot like Justin Smoak’s .227/.314/.386 – albeit in about 900 fewer at bats than Smoak. Seems right up Zduriencik’s alley.
Yet another cautionary tale about counting on prospects to pan out, in my mind.
If he happens to clear waivers, I wouldn’t mind seeing the A’s give him a minor league deal for DH/1B depth. It couldn’t hurt. And who knows? If he does happen to finally put it together this season, he wouldn’t be the first player to ever break out at age 27, or older (Moss, Donaldson, Pena, Cruz, Bautista, etcetera, and I’m sure I’m forgetting several other examples).
Huntington on line 1
Remember when he was a top prospect? I believe he was originally in the Jays organization .They could have got a serious amount for him. Top prospects are a crap shoot
Which is exactly why I never mind acquiring star players for prospects as long as you get the star player for a while. As long as a guy has not succeeded yet at the MLB level, it’s a total crapshoot.
The Jays drafted him in 2005, but he didn’t sign. He started in the Cardinals’ farm system in 2008 and was traded to Oakland a year later as the key piece of a package for Matt Holliday.
Pirates might be interested in him as a platoon guy at 1B with Gaby Sanchez. Would prefer Ike Davis, but if they feel Mets are still asking too much, makes sense.
The Pirates missed the boat on LaHair.
Personally, I would rather take a shot with a 27 year old Wallace than a 31 (?) year old LaHair, especially after LaHair pretty much bombed in Japan last year.
The more I look at Wallace’s numbers, the more I think he makes sense for the Pirates. Wallace had a .787 OPS with 12 HR against RHP last year compared to Ike Davis at .727 OPS with 8 HR against RHP last year.
Brewers are the first team that comes to mind. Depth kind of signing. Would be a nice fit on a minor league deal with the Angels. Angels don’t have much behind Pujols. He could actually see some big league time with them.
Brewers are the first team that comes to mind. Depth kind of signing. Would be a nice fit on a minor league deal with the Angels. Angels don’t have much behind Pujols. He could actually see some big league time with them.
Welcome to the Yankees.
How would no one claim him?
I remember when he was a “can’t miss” prospect.